Poem by Robert Burns: 'Tam o' Shanter - A Tale'

Poem by Robert Burns: 'Tam o' Shanter - A Tale', page 01 of 14

Introduction:

Tam has spent the evening in a pub getting drunk with his friends and on his way home on horseback encounters the devil and a crowd of witches cavorting inside the auld Kirk of Alloway. Careless with drink, Tam disturbs the witches and flees towards the nearby bridge over the river Doon - with the witches in hot pursuit. (poem No 321)

Image Rights Holder:

National Trust for Scotland

Ref:

BMT331.02A

Project:

618:The Burns Manuscripts at Alloway

What:

Poem by Robert Burns: 'Tam o' Shanter - A Tale'

Subject:

Printed in the second volume of The Antiquities of Scotland by Captain Grose. Burns had persuaded Grose to include a drawing of Alloway Kirk in his work which Grose agreed to do, on condition that Burns provided him with a suitable poem to go with the engraving.

Printed in the second volume of The Antiquities of Scotland by Captain Grose. Burns had persuaded Grose to include a drawing of Alloway Kirk in his work which Grose agreed to do, on condition that Burns provided him with a suitable poem to go with the engraving.

Description:

Page one of fourteen reads from the introduction down to 'Gathering'. In these opening lines Burns warns us that while we are 'getting fou' (drunk) we do not think of the distance between pub and home, nor on out wives/girlfriends who sit and wait at home while getting angrier by the minute.